Birmingham International Piano Competition

19/07/2024

Here are the prize winners of Birmingham International Piano Competitions 2024:

1st prize - Sherri Lun
Joint 2nd prize - Mario Bobotsov and Myunghan Kim
3rd prize - not given

Audience Prize - Sherri Lun

We would like to congratulate our winners and wish them all the success in their careers!

Pictured below:
Norma Fisher, John Thwaites, Imogen Cooper.
Mario Bobotsov, Sherri Lun, Myunghan Kim.

05/07/2024

We're about to start the Final!

05/07/2024

Hear our Finalist, Myunghan Kim, today at 3 pm at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

🎼🌟Just a few hours left until the Birmingham International Piano Competition final gets underway in RBC's Bradshaw Hall—but there's still time to hear about another of our finalists, MyungHan Kim, currently studying at GSMD with Ronan O'Hora🌟🎼

MyungHan Kim was born in South Korea and began playing the piano at the age of five. She studied at the Seoul National University with Professor HieYon Choi, and is currently studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Professor Ronan O’Hora. MyungHan was a prize winner at the 21st Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Competition (2024), 2022 Guildhall School's Glass Seller's Beethoven Prize, and 2019 Chicago International Music Competition.

She has numerous masterclasses with Richard Goode, Imogen Cooper, Paul Lewis, Stephen Hough and other established pianists.

Join us for the final today at 3pm alongside the distinguished jury: two of the leading pianists of our time, Imogen Cooper and Norma Fisher!

Tickets are still available: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024

05/07/2024

Hear our Finalist, Mario Bobotsov, today at 3 pm at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Get your tickets here:
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0ZGz9qqPXCFRJcotbC7Si0IXELIqVHC37PtIoEFDE-h9kcQsDcC5_zdZM_aem_Q6UtJAvGqjj2H8bnW6qW_w

🎼🤩Are you joining us for the Birmingham International Piano Competition's final tomorrow? Here's what you can look forward to hearing from finalist Mario Bobotsov, who is currently studying at RBC with Pascal Nemirovski🤩🎼

"I am very honoured to be named as a finalist of the Birmingham International Piano Competition, and I would like to express my thanks to my piano professors at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for their support.

I am happy to play one of my most favourite pieces, Beethoven Les Adieux and Rachmaninov Sonata 2. It is a big joy to play among such talented performers in the very beautiful Bradshaw Hall."

Join us for the final tomorrow in our Bradshaw Hall at 3pm, alongside the distinguished jury: two of the leading pianists of our time, Imogen Cooper and Norma Fisher.

Tickets are still available here: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024

04/07/2024

Hear our Finalist, Sherri Lun, tomorrow at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Get your tickets here:
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0ZGz9qqPXCFRJcotbC7Si0IXELIqVHC37PtIoEFDE-h9kcQsDcC5_zdZM_aem_Q6UtJAvGqjj2H8bnW6qW_w

✨🎶Ahead of tomorrow's Birmingham International Piano Competition final, we spoke to the finalists to get their behind-the-scenes insights into the process. Here's what Sherri Lun, currently studying at RAM with Christopher Elton, had to say!🎶✨

"A special moment in the process was when I went to grab coffee, and the results came out early. I was rushing back, holding a coffee cup in my hand, and almost spilt it when I saw a text saying I got through!

The standard was very high in the previous round, so it is truly a great honour to be chosen as a finalist. There will certainly be some pressure for the final round, but I really hope to be able to enjoy the process of making music and sharing it with the audience.

My programme for the final round consists of two substantial works - Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata and Franck’s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue. Both works could be considered the pillar works of the two composers. I think it’s a very exciting programme because of the stark contrasts between the two."

Join us for the final tomorrow in our Bradshaw Hall at 3pm, alongside the distinguished jury: two of the leading pianists of our time, Imogen Cooper and Norma Fisher.

Tickets are available here: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024

02/07/2024

Join us for the Final on Friday, July 5 at 3 pm at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire 's Bradshaw Hall.

https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024/birmingham-international-piano-competition-final-05-07-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2_KNurFvRQplcT2lR-fe6MDzaaNbzaTLfzYOrqRPFotqbda6YKkCMOxBo_aem_I80t7p_6kJbKR3gH6mG_og

23/06/2024

We would like to thank the 22 brilliant pianists who performed at the Semi-Final this weekend. The standard of music-making over the weekend was exceptionally high.

The jury was tasked with the difficult decision to choose three finalists, which are the following:

1. Myunghan Kim
2. Mario Bobotsov
3. Sherri Lun

We look forward to hearing the finalists on July 5 at 3 pm. Get your tickets:

Birmingham International Piano Competition - final, Jury: Imogen Cooper, Norma Fisher, John Thwaites

23/06/2024

Day 2 of the Semi-Final

Programme and tickets:

https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/birmingham-international-piano-competiton-22-23-06-2024

22/06/2024

Day 1 of the Birmingham International Piano Competition Semi-Final ✨

12/06/2024

The Birmingham International Piano Competition Grand Final is on Friday, July 5 at 3 pm! Tickets are on sale here:

Birmingham International Piano Competition - final, Jury: Imogen Cooper, Norma Fisher, John Thwaites

08/06/2024

We're excited to welcome 23 pianists to Birmingham on Saturday, 22 and Sunday, 23 of June for the Semi-Final of the Birmingham International Piano Competition! ✨

Get your tickets and see the programme below:

Birmingham International Piano Competition, Jury: Pamela Lidiard, Simon Callaghan, John Thwaites

09/04/2024

Applicants still have a few days to apply to Birmingham International Piano Competition. The deadline is April 12!
We look forward to receiving applications!🌟

The Birmingham International Piano Competition provides young pianists the opportunity to compete for a coveted prize in front of an intimate audience at Birmingham Town Hall. Formerly known as the Brant International Piano Competition.

09/04/2024

Meet the Jury:

PAMELA LIDIARD

Pamela studied piano solo and accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, spent a year at the National Opera Studio, and has an undergraduate degree in the Humanities and a MA in Education. She performed and recorded with both singers and instrumentalists; chose, edited and recorded piano syllabuses for two examination boards; and for some years was editor of Piano Professional magazine. Her love for text and context has led her to specialise in vocal accompaniment and she coaches many of the pianists in this art at the Guildhall School, where she is currently Deputy Head of Keyboard Studies.

06/04/2024

Meet the Jury:

JOHN THWAITES

John Thwaites is best known for his collaborative work with strings and as a founder member of the Primrose Piano Quartet. The Primrose have commissioned and recorded important new work by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (for the Cheltenham Festival), Anthony Payne, Sally Beamish, Steve Goss and John Casken, and have recorded the earlier twentieth century repertoire for Meridian, including a Five Star Choice for Classic FM Magazine of Bridge and Howells. Their latest release is a Double CD of French repertoire and they have an annual Festival at West Meon in Hampshire.

John has worked with many leading cellists including Alexander Baillie, the late Johannes Goritzki, and Kirsten Jenson, appearing also with Jian Wang, Pierre Doumenge, Louise Hopkins, Adrian Brendel, Tim Lowe, Natalie Clein, Alexander Ivashkin, David Cohen, Oleg Kogan, Li Wei, Christoph Richter, Gemma Rosefield and Nicholas Jones. A string of recordings with Alexander Baillie for the SOMM label include a Double Five Star Chamber Music Choice of the Month for BBC Music Magazine (a double CD of British Cello Sonatas). The Complete Works for Cello and Piano by Sir Arnold Bax is their latest recording.

He has played quintets with the Martinu, Maggini, Dante (their recording of the Lyapunov Piano Sextet in B flat minor for the Dutton label was also a BBC Music Magazine Double Five Star Chamber Music Choice of the Month), Schidlof, Emperor and Aurea String Quartets. Theatrical collaborations have included work with Simon Callow, Tony Britton and Tim Piggott-Smith, and he has also performed with Michael Collins, Thomas Riebl, Tim Ridout, Toby Spence, James Gilchrist, Helen Charlston and Louise Winter.

His research focus is on Brahms. Op. 38, Op. 99 and Op. 121(transc. Shafran) were recorded with Alexander Baillie on pianos from the Gert Hecher Atelier. An article describing the recording of Brahms's Piano Quartets on Period Pianos in Vienna with the Primrose Piano Quartet is listed on the Research Catalogue. Op. 120 with Dorothea Vogel has recently been released (something of their approach can be divined from the youtube video Brahms Re-imagined). Working with figures such as Clive Brown, Anna Scott, Claire Holden and Kate Bennett-Wadsworth John is developing an Historically Informed Brahms pianism particularly suited to the straight-strung pianos of Brahms's time. RBC hosted a major Symposium on Nineteenth Century Piano-Playing Styles in 2024 with Neal Peres da Costa as keynote speaker.

John studied with Harvey Dagul, Sulamita Aronovsky, Renna Kellaway, Paul Berkowitz, Martino Tirimo and Christian Blackshaw.

Broadcasts include BBC Radio Three Lunchtimes and frequent appearances for "In Tune".

After posts at Christ's Hospital, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Purcell School he is currently Course Director of Cadenza International Summer Music School and Head of the Department of Keyboard Studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. John was recently invited to become a Patron of EPTA UK.

03/04/2024

Meet the Jury:

SIMON CALLAGHAN

Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a highly successful career as a recording artist. A favourite performer at the internationally- renowned Husum Festival of Piano Rarities in Germany, Callaghan’s recent sell-out concert was praised by VAN Magazine as a “cleverly curated recital full of discoveries” and by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “technically brilliant”. Callaghan has developed a wide following and appears on a regular basis in the UK’s major concert halls, and on tours to Asia, North America and Europe. Recital partners have included Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Nicholas Daniel, Adrian Brendel, Feng Ning, Samuel West, Prunella Scales and Timothy West. BBC Young Musician of the Year Finalist Coco Tomita and Callaghan have a successful duo partnership which saw their first record released in 2022 on Orchid Classics. He is also a founding member of the London Piano Quartet, joining colleagues from the renowned Piatti Quartet to showcase the repertoire for piano quartet with a particular focus on revivifying works that have fallen into obscurity.

Simon Callaghan’s distinguished and eclectic discography includes recordings for Hyperion, Nimbus and Lyrita. He has a strong profile on BBC Radio3 and on a variety of streaming platforms, his most recent single on Apple Music with Coco Tomita surpassing 1 million streams in the first month of its release. He is a strong social media enthusiast, using it as a form of promotion for classical music in general but seeing it as a particular tool in his advocacy of the rare and unexplored.

Callaghan’s broad repertoire encompasses the standard works of the 19th and 20th centuries and increasingly concentrates on much that is little known, examples including Bernhard Scholz, Josef Rheinberger and Carl Reinecke. A cornerstone of his work is his commitment to British music, and he has recently begun a series on Lyrita, recording world premieres of British concertos with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Callaghan has also made first recordings of the complete piano music by Rebecca Clarke, George Dyson and William Busch. He has recorded four albums for Hyperion’s celebrated The Romantic Piano Concerto series. His first disc for Hyperion, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, formed part of his PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music and was praised by BBC Radio 3’s Andrew McGregor: “I have nothing but praise for the performances... impressive pianism”.

In 2020, Simon recorded L’histoire du Babar with actor Miriam Margolyes. The album received five stars from The Independent, reviewer Michael Church commenting that: “here, thanks to Harry Potter actor Miriam Margolyes’s artistry and Simon Callaghan’s excellent pianism, is Poulenc’s delightful musical response. And as I listened to this recording, I found the original drawings reappearing in my mind with all their detail intact – extraordinary. It lasts just 30 minutes, but my god does it resonate.” Simon Callaghan’s reputation and experience in chamber music led to his appointment as Artistic Director at London’s celebrated Conway Hall, only the sixth incumbent since the founding of the series in 1887. Callaghan is collaborating with Roger Vignoles, one of the most distinguished piano accompanists of our time, on a new song recital element for the series in 2023/24. He was elected a Steinway Artist in 2012.

01/04/2024

Meet the Jury:

NORMA FISHER (FRNCM)

Norma Fisher is acclaimed internationally as one of the UK’s leading pianists and teachers. As a child she was recognised as ‘a rare musical talent’and at the age of fourteen she came to the attention of the celebrated Greek pianist Gina Bachauer who became her mentor, introducing her to the distinguished Hungarian teacher Ilona Kabos, with whom she subsequently studied. A period was also spent in Paris studying French music with Jacques Fevrier.

Her many, highly acclaimed, early performances for the BBC led to an invitation by the German radio station RIAS, in Berlin, to make her debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra - which launched her career in Europe. Success in the Busoni International Piano Competition, as a top prize winner, followed and in 1963, when she shared the much-coveted Piano Prize in the Harriet Cohen International Music Awards with Vladimir Ashkenazy, her international reputation was sealed. That same year she made her debut at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall and became a favourite soloist with all the leading British orchestras.

The CD’s of her recently re-issued BBC recordings, “Norma Fisher at the BBC Vols 1, 2 and 3 have been received with huge international acclaim, each being awarded Editors and Critics Choice by Gramophone Magazine. Vol. 2 also had the honour of being awarded the 41st “Grande Prix du Disque” by the Ferenc Liszt Society of Budapest.

Her reputation as a teacher is widely established and many of her top prize-winning students are well known on the international concert circuit. She is a Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music and a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music and is invited to give master classes throughout the world. She is also regularly invited on the Jury of leading international piano competitions.

She is the Artistic Director of London Master Classes www.londonmasterclasses.com whose courses attract major talent from around the world to work intensively with top performers/teachers in London. London Master Classes has recently celebrated 35 years of offering these prestigious events.

29/03/2024

Meet the Jury:

IMOGEN COOPER

‘Imogen is one of the greatest musicians England has produced. She's utterly without show. Mozart, Schumann and Schubert could have been written for her. There's a poetic, reflective side to her which is always there in her playing. It isn't Imogen's style to play to the gallery. She's not someone who goes in for fireworks in the rafters. But I can bet you that if I were to ask any orchestral musicians who they rate as one of the best Mozart pianists, three out of four of them will come up with Imogen's name first time around. Orchestral musicians are the toughest critics.'
Sir Simon Rattle

Recognised worldwide as a pianist of virtuosity and poetic poise, Imogen has established a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the classical repertoire.
She has dazzled audiences and orchestras throughout her distinguished career, bringing to the concert platform her unique musical understanding and lyrical quality.

Imogen has a widespread international career and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony and NHK Symphony Orchestras. She has also undertaken tours with the Camerata Salzburg, Australian and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras.

She has played with all the major British orchestras and has particularly close relationships with the Northern Sinfonia and Britten Sinfonia, play/directing. Her recital appearances have included New York, Chicago, Paris, Vienna, Rotterdam, Prague and at London’s Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls.

As a supporter of new music, Imogen has premiered two works at the Cheltenham International Festival; Traced Overhead by Thomas Adès (1996) and Decorated Skin by Deirdre Gribbin (2003). In 1996, she also collaborated with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the premiere of the quintet, Voices for Angels, written by the ensemble’s viola player, Brett Dean. She is a committed chamber music player and performs regularly with the Belcea Quartet.

As a Lieder recitalist, she has had a long collaboration with Wolfgang Holzmair. They have performed recitals in many major venues including Vienna, Paris and London, and have made several recordings for Philips. She also performs frequently with the cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, their recordings include a CD set of Brahms Sonatas and Bach (RCA). Wolfgang Holzmair and Sonia Wieder-Atherton both feature in the box set ‘Imogen Cooper and Friends’ encompassing solo, chamber and lieder works (Philips). She has also recorded six Mozart Concertos with the Northern Sinfonia (Avie) and a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall (Wigmore Live).

During 2008 and 2009 she performed the last 6 years of Schubert’s solo works as part of the International Piano Series in London. These were recorded and released to great critical acclaim under the title ‘Schubert Live’ (Avie).

Imogen Cooper received a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2007 and was the recipient of an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2008.

’She is an outstanding artist, one of the finest pianists now playing. Go, listen, and wonder how many better pianists there are alive in this country, or anywhere’ – Daily Telegraph

Image Credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke

27/03/2024

Applications are open until April 12, 2024. Don't miss your chance to apply!

Full details and application form can be found here: http://www.bipcomp.co.uk/entry-and-prizes.html

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Piano Department

Prizes The Competition awards three pianists – one winner and two runners-up – with a monetary prize as follows: First Prize: £3,000 Second Prize: £2,000 Third Prize: £1,000 Audience Prize: ...